But why is it snowing again?

[rocketscientist]

March 7, three inches and still accumulating.

*primes genade - throws*

Could Graham Hancock be right?

*ducks, runs*


heheheh...heheh..hehe...

[Windwalker]

March 7, three inches and still accumulating.

Could Graham Hancock be right?

Maybe the aliens that watch us have decided the time has come for more "flash frozen" mammoths!

For those who don't know of Graham Hancock: he's a lover of pseudo-mysteries and faux conspiracies, like Edgar Cayce (of Atlantis in Bermuda notoriety) and Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods, etc). As I said in another venue: perhaps they could join forces with the postmodern deconstructionists and publish a definitive work titled The Incalculability of Hermeneutics as Valorized by the Face on Mars. (*laughs*)

[rocketscientist]

I knew it was only a matter of time before you answered this... Heh!

[intrigued_scribe]

Windwalker wrote:

As I said in another venue: perhaps they could join forces with the postmodern deconstructionists and publish a definitive work titled The Incalculability of Hermeneutics as Valorized by the Face on Mars. (*laughs*)

Now that would definitely be an interesting title. *grins*

Heather

[rocketscientist]

Oh! I have an idea! (yes, yes it happens)

We could start a forum called Pseudo-Science and Hearsay. Postings would include quotes from such venerable tomes as The Incalculability of Hermeneutics as Valorized by the Face on Mars and Trance Channel Atlantian Super-Beings in Three Easy Steps.

[Windwalker]

...venerable tomes as The Incalculability of Hermeneutics as Valorized by the Face on Mars and Trance Channel Atlantian Super-Beings in Three Easy Steps.

Actually, we should write these books. We'd become instant millionaires, buy half of New Zealand and retire in the style to which we could easily become accustomed.

[caliban]

March 7, three inches and still accumulating.

Well, although presumably most people on this forum know this, one of the predictions of climate change is not only an increase in the AVERAGE temperature, but also wilder fluctuations in weather. Since most journalists, and conspiracy wingnuts, have nonexistent math skills, this bit gets lost. (It also gets lost in discussions about IQ--long story there--short answer is, averages are not everything.)

For a fictional discussion, see Kim Stanley Robinson's newly concluded trilogy, "Forty Signs of Rain," "Fifty Degrees Below," and (just out) "Sixtys Days and Counting." He's been described in Salon as the "anti-Crichton." For those of you who do not know him, he has a killer pedigree: PhD in literature from UCSD + a wife who is a environmental chemist + he has served on the NSF artist's program review board (+ he has traveled around the globe, literally, spending time in Nepal and Antarctica) = he knows science, or at least people who know science, and he knows how science and goverment works. Plus he's a terrific writer.

[rocketscientist]

Windwalker wrote:

Actually, we should write these books. We'd become instant millionaires, buy half of New Zealand and retire in the style to which we could easily become accustomed.

Uhm... You know you ARE right. Lets see... integrity - wealth, wealth - integrity... New Zealand... oh dear!


Caliban wrote:

rocketscientist wrote:
March 7, three inches and still accumulating.


Well, although presumably most people on this forum know this, one of the predictions of climate change is not only an increase in the AVERAGE temperature, but also wilder fluctuations in weather. Since most journalists, and conspiracy wingnuts, have nonexistent math skills, this bit gets lost. (It also gets lost in discussions about IQ--long story there--short answer is, averages are not everything.)

Does this mean you won't be collaborating on our get rich quick book?

For a fictional discussion, see Kim Stanley Robinson's newly concluded trilogy, "Forty Signs of Rain," "Fifty Degrees Below," and (just out) "Sixtys Days and Counting." He's been described in Salon as the "anti-Crichton."

Oh! Anything recommended by Salon goes on my "to read" list (or at least scan in the ilse). Thanks for the tip!

[rocketscientist]

Oh, and yes, I commit a lot of typos. *sigh* And no, preview doesn't help.

[Windwalker]

Uhm... You know you ARE right. Let's see... integrity - wealth, wealth - integrity... New Zealand... oh dear!

Let's get crackin'! (*laughs*)

For a fictional discussion, see Kim Stanley Robinson's newly concluded trilogy. He's been described in Salon as the "anti-Crichton."

Most here probably know Stan Robinson as the author of the famous Mars trilogy (Red/Green/Blue Mars). As Calvin said, he is formidably intelligent and educated, and his works are unusually thoughtful for SF (he can become long-winded and didactic but his longueurs still contain interesting ideas). Additionally, in contra-distinction to the libertarianism of many SF writers, especially the cyberpunk group, Robinson is liberal in his politics and articulate about it. I personally think he should run for governor of California.

[rocketscientist]

Windwalker wrote:

I personally think he should run for governor of California.

Now THAT I'd like to see!

As an aside, I've always thought weather patterns and meteorology were fascinating. When I was very young, I began keeping track of cold verses warm years in order to better guesstimate the likelihood of snow for any given year. I discovered that in my region of the country (Mid Atlantic) that we had a fluctuation of temperature extremes lasting between five to seven years. For five years we could count on cold snowy winters with lows around 15-20 degrees F. Then a warming trend would push the winters to as warm as 70F. Since for the most part I've stayed in the same area, I've found the trend continues to be predictable. In the past twenty years all of this has been connected with the El Niño weather pattern.

When I was a kid we just called it hot year/cold year.


These late winters are kinda weird though.

[caliban]

Most here probably know Stan Robinson as the author of the famous Mars trilogy (Red/Green/Blue Mars). As Calvin said, he is formidably intelligent and educated, and his works are unusually thoughtful for SF (he can become long-winded and didactic but his longueurs still contain interesting ideas). Additonally, in contra-distinction to the libertarianism of many SF writers, especially the cyberpunk group, Robinson is liberal in his politics and articulate about it. I personally think he should run for governor of California.

Full disclosure: as an undergrad at UC Davis I took courses on the literature of SF and writing SF (the latter included Karen Joy Fowler, author of "The Jane Austen Book Club") from Stan. I just saw Stan at a reading in San Diego--and he still remembers me from 23 years ago. He was a terrific, insightful teacher. He influenced me deeply, on how to read and understand SF and how to write in general. Very few of the teachers or professors I have had, have influenced me as much as Stan has.

In particular, I like his definition of SF: "the history we cannot know." http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/foote62interview.htm He emphasizes how the very idea of history, and active history, as a deep if often unseen idea in SF, inparticular the idea that by imagining the future, and imagining possible futures (rather than impossible ones as found in fantasy) we empower ourselves to question the present.

My favorire Robinson novels are Icehenge, an early but terrific work, and The Years of Rice and Salt, a fascinating alternate history without Europe. I recommend both highly. I also teach Red Mars in my science and science fiction course.

[Windwalker]

Full disclosure: as an undergrad at UC Davis I took courses on the literature of SF and writing SF (the latter included Karen Joy Fowler, author of "The Jane Austen Book Club") from Stan.

I met and interacted with Stan Robinson during my brief time of giving talks in the wake of my lone book. I found him a fascinating, engaging person, cerebral yet passionate, at once knowledgeable and poetic. I can imagine he makes an inspiring teacher.

[Windwalker]

Speaking of snow: Happy spring equinox, all you gardeners and sun lovers! The signs are unmistakable...